Appearing on C-SPAN, the Brentwood Republican said she views the FCC’s vote nearly two weeks ago to undo so-called "net neutrality" rules as “a positive step in the right direction.”

The FCC’s new chairman, Ajit V. Pai, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in January, “is going to do a wonderful job,” Blackburn said. “He is focused on closing the digital divide and extension of broadband and making certain that the internet is an open source and is not going to be under heavy government control. I think those are good steps, good things.”

Blackburn, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, also said legislation she filed two weeks ago would give internet users more control over how their personal information is handled online.

The BROWSER Act, or the Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly Act, would require companies such as AT&T and Comcast, as well as Facebook and Google, to get users' permission before selling their internet browser history.

The FCC put similar rules in place last year, but they applied only to internet providers, such as Comcast and Verizon, and did not impact websites, such as Facebook and Google.

The Republican-led Congress overturned those rules in March, and Trump signed the bill into law in April.

Blackburn’s bill would reinstate the rules, but would expand them to include websites such as Facebook and Google. It also would put the Federal Trade Commission, not the FCC, in charge of enforcing the rules.

“Individuals want to control their privacy,” Blackburn said on the C-SPAN broadcast. “Many times, I’ve had so many people say, ‘OK, I don’t understand this. How is it that I have to continue to get all these pop-ups, all this spam, and I have to go and remove myself from these lists? How is this happening?’

“Of course, it happens from data mining. To allow consumers to say, ‘OK, I’m going to choose to give you the right to share certain pieces of my information … but I’m not going to choose to have it shared in other ways, there are things I do not want shared,’ I think individuals have the right to do that.’”